How Does PlayStation 4's Launch Stack Up Against History?

With less than three weeks to go before Sony launches the PlayStation 4, we don't have long to wrestle with the greatest launch day question of all: "Is it worth it? And if not, should I cancel my preorder?"

Rather than tell you how to spend your money (what do we look like, financial advisors?), we'd prefer to simply lay out the facts and let you make an informed judgment for yourself. We've assembled a ton of information about Sony's previous console launches, from the original PlayStation through last year's PlayStation Vita debut, and assembled them into pretty infographics for easy digestion, even including inflation-adjusted pricing for the sake of cost comparisons. This is strictly about the U.S. launches, because... well, did you see what the site's called? I mean, really now.

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@Macstorm DC Universe Online is still launch window. The Game Update 31 for the PS3 and PC brings those versions up to the PS4 standard, in prep for that launch.
https://www.dcuniverseonline.com/news/archive/game-update-31-producer-letter-2013-october-21-dc-universe-online

Wow, I had forgotten just how bad the launch titles were for each of these generations. Very few games that I'd want to play across the board. A couple of gems like Jumping Flash and Eternal Ring, but otherwise so barren.

Has there ever been a launch lineup as strong as the SNES? I guess there likely won't be again.

Looking at the list, the strength of the launch line-up of the PlayStation family has always been in terms of quantity and variety. Almost all genres are always covered at launch, and most of the games available tend to be decent at the very least, although admittedly, there are very few (if any) timeless classics among them. I think the PS2 had the best launch lineup, while the PS3 and PSP had the worst.

@easter Well, the SNES had Super Mario World in addition to some classic games like F-Zero and Pilotwings. It's hard to call a launch line-up strong on the basis of just one game... but if any game could carry a system, it would be Mario 64.

@easter Well, the SNES had Super Mario World in addition to some classic games like F-Zero and Pilotwings. It's hard to call a launch line-up strong on the basis of just one game... but if any game could carry a system, it would be Mario 64.